OAKLAND -- The A's finally got revenge for Game 5 of last year's American League Division Series, when Justin Verlander shut them out at the Coliseum to end their season.

Oakland didn't beat Verlander in this game -- Verlander wound up with a no-decision -- but the A's managed to outlast him, thanks to rookie Sonny Gray matching the Detroit star pitch for pitch and lasting one inning more.

Verlander was almost as good as he was last year, tossing seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking one and striking out 11. But by the end of the seventh, he'd thrown 117 pitches, including a 10-pitch battle with catcher Stephen Vogt that ended his night.

"These guys have a propensity to foul off pitches, work pitch counts and get pitch counts up really high," Verlander said of the A's. "That last at-bat with Vogt, I think that put the nail in the coffin. If that was a one- or two-pitch out, I might have been able to go back in for the eighth."

The Tigers lost nine of Verlander's final 10 starts in the regular season and now have lost his first one in the postseason. But he wasn't sounding distraught afterward.

"I had pretty good stuff," he said.

Counting his last two regular-season starts and this one, Verlander has thrown 19 consecutive scoreless innings, walked five and struck out 33.

Verlander passed Gray in the hallway as he was heading to the postgame interview room and the two pitchers exchanged friendly words.

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"I just told him he did a good job," Verlander said.

Once he got to the interview room, he had nothing but high praise for the rookie right-hander.

"He was able to use his angst and energy for a positive. A lot of young guys, it works against them," Verlander said. "That's why veterans seem to do better in postseason pressure. But he handled himself like a veteran and it was impressive."

"He seemed to get stronger as the game went on," said A's reliever Sean Doolittle. "For awhile there, down in the bullpen, we were so into what he was doing and just enjoying watching those two guys go toe-to-toe, it was like, 'Oh, we might have to get ready here.'"

Vogt was asked if he'd ever had a baseball moment of ecstasy like Saturday night's walk-off single.

"I hit a walk-off homer in college," said Vogt, who attended Azusa Pacific. "We beat Concordia University of Irvine. But it was nowhere near this."

The A's restructured their lineup for Game 2 of the ALDS, moving Seth Smith in as the designated hitter, shifting Brandon Moss from designated hitter to first base and benching Daric Barton.

Barton had a tough Game 1, striking out in all three at-bats and having two ground balls get by him at first base. The first of those led to Detroit's third run in a 3-2 Oakland loss.

Manager Bob Melvin said the move was more about getting Smith in the lineup than it was about Barton's play.

"I'd been thinking about it before the series started," Melvin said. "If Barton had gone 4 for 4, that might have changed things, but coming in, I wanted to get Smitty into the lineup.''

Barton was 2 for 14 with four walks in his career against Verlander. Smith was 2 for 15 with six walks and a homer against the A.L.'s 2011 Cy Young Award winner.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he was surprised his team held the A's down in Game 1 considering that leadoff hitter Coco Crisp reached three times via walks.

"We went into the game thinking this is one guy we really have to contain," Leyland said. "In a one-run game, we were probably lucky. We're going to have to keep off the bases a little better if we want to move on."